A Friend of Friends Friday: Division of the Negroes of Thomas Lucket

This post is written as part of the weekly “A Friend of Friends Friday” genealogy blogging meme. Visit the GeneaBloggers shared Google Reader list for additional entries from this and other blogs.

The following record appeared in the Charles County, Maryland, Inventories register in the October Term 1827:

Thomas Lucket Reappraisement & Division

Inventory of the Reappraisement of the goods, chattels, in part of the personal Estate of Thomas Lucket late of Charles County deceased in Dollars & cents viz.

Property

Value

1 Negro man Samuel 31 years old

300.00

1 ditto do Grandison 28 ” “

350.00

1 do do Horace 17 ” “

300.00

1 Woman Lindia 50 ” “

80.00

1 ” Lucy 45 ” “

80.00

1 ” Silvia 23 ” “

275.00

1 do Lindia 15 ” “

275.00

1 do Charlotte 13 ” “

250.00

1 do Maria 19 ” “

275.00

1 do Harriot 20 ” ” & child 15 mos old

540.00

1 Girl Jane 20 mos old

50.00

1 Boy John 8 mos old

40.00

1 do Samuel 2 mos old

25.00

7 Shoats @ $3.00

21.00

13 shoats @ .75 [cents]

9.75

1 Boar

2.00

$2672.75

We the subscribers do certify, that the foregoing is a true and Just Inventory and Valuation, of the reapraisement of the goods, chattels, in part of the personal estate, of Thomas Lucket, late of Charles County decd. as far as they have come to our sight and knowledge. Witness our hands and seals this 3rd day of December 1827.

William P. Ford [seal]

Francis Thompson [seal]

Reappraisement and Division of the Negroes of the Estate of Thos. Lucket, late of Charles County deceased.

Lot No. 1. Elizabeth Lucket

1 Negro man Sam

$300.00

1 ” Woman Linda

$80.00

$380.00

Lot No. 2. Hezekiah Luckett

1 Negro man Grandison

$350.00

1 do Woman Lucy

80.00

430.00

Lot No. 3. Reason Boswell

1 Negro man Horace

$300.00

Lot No. 4. Henry Luckett

1 Woman Linda

$275.00

Lot No. 5. Marcus L. Luckett

1 Woman Silvia

$275.00

1 Boy Samuel

25.00

300.00

Lot No. 6. Mary R. Lucket

1 Woman Maria

$275.00

1 Boy John

40.00

315.00

Lot No. 7. Adeline A. Lucket

1 Woman Charlotte

$250.00

1 Girl Jane

50.00

300.00

Lot No. 8. Thomas L. Lucket

To be paid by the Representatives

$298.33½

The aforegoing acct. is rejected, And it is ordered by the Court, that the Admr. sell the whole of the personal Estate of his Intestate, upon the usual terms.

Test. Wm. D. Merrick

Regr. of Wills

Decr. 11th. 1827

This estate inventory unfortunately does not contain some of the information that genealogists have come to appreciate. The slaves are listed in descending age order, rather than in any semblance of family groups. No family relationships whatsoever are stated, other than that between Harriot and “her [unnamed] child.” From the information provided in this record, the genealogist cannot endeavor to reconstruct any of the families.

It is unlikely that the slaves living in this household comprised married couples. One hallmark of farms of this size, with slave-holdings of less than 15-20 people, is that the slaves are often closely related, and therefore look to other nearby farms and plantations for marriage. Cross-plantation or “abroad” marriages were extremely common in the state of Maryland.

After the initial reappraisement of Thomas Lucket’s estate, the record continues to include the division of his slave-holdings among his heirs and representatives. One can witness the unfortunate circumstances that led to the break-up of many enslaved families. Each of the heirs only received one or two of the slaves from the estate in this division, due to the relatively small size of Thomas Lucket’s holdings and the almost equal number of heirs. Given that several of these heirs were males, it would be reasonable to believe that each of these slaves would have ended up on a separate farms or plantations.

The record also notes, following this recorded partition of the slaves, that this division was rejected, and the Orphans’ Court ordered the slaves to be sold. In this particular case, the record of the sale does not appear with the record transcribed here. It is likely that the sale–assuming that it actually took place–would have been recorded in either this register or the “Account of Sales” register.

Information on the decision to reject the division would likely be found in the Orphans’ Court proceedings. I would recommend that probate court dockets and minutes always be consulted in addition to other probate records, where available. These court proceedings can provide much more of a “behind the scenes” glimpse into the estate administration process.

If you would like to cite this post: Michael Hait, “A Friend of Friends Friday: Division of the Negroes of Thomas Lucket,” Planting the Seeds: Genealogy as a Profession blog, posted 23 Jul 2011 (https://michaelhait.wordpress.com : accessed [access date]).

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